“The Department of Justice and the CIA announced today that the Justice
Department’s National Security Division initiated a preliminary inquiry in
conjunction with the CIA’s Office of Inspector General regarding the destruction
of the interrogation videos described in CIA Director Mike Hayden’s message to
employees on December 6.

“A preliminary inquiry is a procedure the Department of Justice uses regularly
to gather the initial facts needed to determine whether there is sufficient
predication to warrant a full investigation.”

Attached is the letter from Assistant Attorney General for National Security
Ken Wainstein to CIA Acting General Counsel John Rizzo regarding the preliminary
inquiry.